I Like and Respect Israel, But It’s Not America

There’s a new neocon catchphrase going around. I heard it first on Chris Hayes’s show a couple of weeks ago, when Eli Lake turned to Phyllis Bennis and said something like “Okay, we get it, you don’t like Israel” — after Bennis mentioned the amount of aid Israel receives from the U.S. Then Danielle Pletka, a major player at the American Enterprise Institute upped the ante, devoting a blog post to Obama’s “hate” for Israel.

Honestly, anyone who has written or spoken in public about the Israel-Palestine question is subject to this, whether openly or behind their back. It is a stark charge, often used to insinuate anti-Semitism. But rather than being simply defensive, it might be helpful to explore one’s feelings more deeply. I’ve been to Israel twice, have met dozens of Israelis who were outstanding in terms of wisdom, vision, compassion, eloquence. There are several I know better who I’d count as among the most impressive people of my acquaintance.

Israel in a general sense has a great deal going for it: its science and medicine are first rate, and it produces many great scholars. All things being equal, it would probably rank high on my list of favorite countries — the way I feel about Switzerland perhaps or Spain — a place where I would happily spend a year, root for their teams when playing countries I don’t particularly care for, etc.

But of course all things aren’t equal. As an American, one is never asked simply to like or respect Israel as a foreign country — one is asked to more or less worship the place. TAC contributor Michael Desch has an excellent short-form summary in Foreign Affairs. Some key points:

When it comes to Israel, however, American security guarantees are far less hedged and legalistic, leaving little doubt that the United States seeks to protect it from almost any imaginable threat. In a 1994 address to the Knesset, U.S. President Bill Clinton waxed poetic on the subject. “Your journey is our journey,” he told the Israelis, “and America will stand with you now and always.” In a 2008 speech in Jerusalem, President George W. Bush was similarly expansive: “When you confront terror and evil,” he said, “you are 307 million strong, because the United States of America stands with you.” So when President Barack Obama declared that the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security is “unshakable,” or as he recently put it, in more colloquial terms, that the United States will “always have Israel’s back,” he was following in a long tradition.

Of course, the commitment to Israel’s security goes well beyond rhetoric. The United States has provided Israel with more than $160 billion in bilateral aid since 1948, most of it for military purposes. About 60 percent of all U.S. aid to foreign militaries now goes to Israel, constituting around 20 percent of the Jewish state’s annual military spending, according to the Congressional Research Service. Washington requires other recipients of its military aid to spend the money in the United States, but allows Israel to use a significant part of its aid allotment to buy weapons from its own defense industry rather than from U.S. suppliers.

The United States also takes steps to ensure Israel’s ready access to American arms. The United States prepositioned ammunition and equipment in Israel in the 1980s as part of its war reserve stocks for allies program, and now regularly allows the Israel Defense Forces to replenish their supplies from them, as they did after the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel also benefits more than any other country from the U.S. Excess Defense Articles program, a veritable military flea market open to “major non-NATO allies” of the United States, a designation that Israel obtained in 2001.

Desch was responding in part to Netanyahu’s insistence that Obama adopt Israel’s “red lines” for dealing with Iran and start a war that might conceivably be in Israel’s interests but is certainly not in America’s. But in fact the special relationship is broader than that. Netanyahu, a rabid ethnic nationalist who has done everything he could to squelch the Oslo peace process, and whose real views about America are aptly summarized by his quote “America is a thing you can move very easily” — a bit of candor caught off the record when Netanyahu was speaking to some right-wing Israeli settlers — is treated quite literally like royalty on Capitol Hill and in American newsrooms. Congress grants him 30 standing ovations. David Gregory refers to him as “leader of the Jewish people.” This “special relationship,” with all that it implies about my country, its relationship to the Middle East and the entire world, and its ability to look sensibly after its own affairs, I genuinely do detest.

29 Responses to I Like and Respect Israel, But It’s Not America

Well Scott it was really quite lovely reading your work here. One hopes that by writing so eloquently what many are reluctant to say, you don’t end up in some flophouse with little else besides a bottle of Jack Daniel, a tattered robe, and some rodents to keep you company.

As a Christian, who decries any antisemitism, I wonder why those who style themselves Christians have abolished the lessons of the New Testament in favor of the incomplete misunderstandings of the Old.

Ethnic cleansing, oppression, discrimination and constant war-mongering belligerence are the most counterproductive policies that Israel can take for its long term health and survival and are ruinous to United States interests as well.

It is wholly understandable after the Holocaust that this is the default psychological response of many, but it isn’t entirely healthy, in the same way that abused children often grow up with behavioral problems in response to their trauma. Codependent enabling should not be the default or sane response of a nation like the United States, but we are acting as if we are under siege and fear imminent destruction any moment, as well – which is far from the case. And it is having a pathological effect on our own democracy and freedom.

A lot of the wealth we have enabled for the most paranoid is being propagandized back at us, interfering with the health of our own nation.

We’ve gotten into this “whatever is good for Israel is good for America” place that just doesn’t make sense (leaving aside whether current Israeli policy is even good for Israel, which I’d answer in the negative).

I wonder if it will take a war with Iran triggered by Israel to change it. I hope not.

Former CIA Chief of The bin Laden Unit,Mike Scheuer
” No one wants to abandon the Israelis. But I think the perception is, and I think it’s probably an accurate perception, that the tail is leading the dog – that we are giving the Israelis carte blanche ability to exercise whatever they want to do in their area.”

Americans would be better disposed toward Israel if it didn’t behave like an entitled dependent constantly dragging its benefactor into costly fights, and if the comparatively small number of its fanatical supporters here in the US didn’t wield such outsize influence in our political process.

This last is a big, serious problem. It has already had disastrous economic and strategic ramifications. Everyone knows that the problem must be dealt with, but (like the grotesque expansion of the deficit) we have collectively failed to do anything about it.

I just love your constant insistence on branding every conservative that doesn’t march lock step with your convictions a “neocon”. You and “conservatives” of your ilk have a very limited and frankly dangerous view of the foreign policy as a whole, which will do more harm than good to the US and the entire world in a long run. After reading your post in support of Todd Akin, I’m beginning to wonder whether you are some leftwing plant determined to see the Democratic party win again and again, but no, most likely you truly believe that your parochial approach is the right path for the future of conservatism.

Maybe I’ll give Scott some distancing from real anti-Zionists, which include myself.

I note McConnell did NOT visit on his trips to Israel any Palestinians on his way to expressing Scott’s admiration and specifying there are Israelis of wisdom and integrity-and compassion.

Of course those who had the land stolen from them were not the recipients of this compassion, else Scott would have mentioned it, unless, that is, he felt that would have
lessened his love for Israel too substantially to clear him from unpleasant charges.

Better the actual natives be rendered into non-entitities in his piece, rather than risk this.

Israel is are a country about the size of Rhode Island and they have mortal enemies on three sides and a sea on the fourth and you say we shouldn’t allow them to do whatever they want in their own area? That sounds like a rather arrogant attitude to me. Israel is our only true ally in the entire Middle East and you want to say they are the one trying to drag us into a war when it is everyone else in the region who is trying to kill them? You say we have no national interest in helping to preserve Israel? I suppose you think there would be no harm to our national interest if Israel is wiped off the map by radical terrorist? I’m sorry to tell you this but the very people who want to get rid of Israel affectionately refer to us as the Great Satan. So after they get rid of the Little Satan I guess you think they’ll just leave us alone. No national interest, huh?

The New Republic is certainly not exclusively neocon, and publishes a lot that is definitely not. But Eli Lake– whose work I’ve seen for years in many venues–definitely fits the bill! As for AEI, its transformation over twenty-five years from an eclectic but broady Republican leaning think tank into a hard core neocon shop–at least in its foreign policy–is one of the saddest things to happen in conservative intellectual life.

I’m glad to see someone on the right feels the way I do. Israel is not the 51st state. They are an independent country. I wish them no i’ll will. But honestly they are not special. As a member of the military i feel it is not the USA responsibility to protect them. I care much more about what happens in Mexico than Israel.

“I’m sorry to tell you this but the very people who want to get rid of Israel affectionately refer to us as the Great Satan.”

Let’s ignore whether the jihadists call us that *because* of our support for Israel, and assume they want to destroy us anyway. What does “our true ally” add to the alliance? We are in no worse of a military position *without* “our true ally.” In fact, we’d be $3 billion a year wealthier – and that ignores the entire issue of whether some of the animus toward the U.S. is *caused* by our support for Israel.

“Our true ally” adds…what…to the alliance, Ron? What does an alliance with Israel give us that we don’t currently have?

In response to the “what do we do about it” question posed earlier, liberty has a solution.

A bunch of people in America feel very strongly that aid to Israel should continue. Write a law clarifying the right of any American to raise and send funds to any country or countries of their choice, except for those with which we are directly at war.

Tell the people that want to keep having a “special relatiionship” with Israel that they can. And stop forcing the rest of us to pay taxes/assume debt for this relationship.

Solution is easy. Let people have liberty not to participate in any way in the affairs of other countries.

As a Christian, who decries any antisemitism, I wonder why those who style themselves Christians have abolished the lessons of the New Testament in favor of the incomplete misunderstandings of the Old.

HA!!! Bingo!!!

It is wholly understandable after the Holocaust that this is the default psychological response of many, but it isn’t entirely healthy, in the same way that abused children often grow up with behavioral problems in response to their trauma.

Holocaust (it did, damnit, happen) is much easier “sold” to the United States than anywhere else for a simple reason, let’s compare.

Did Holocaust happen?? Absolutely, extermination of the Jews is one of the grimmest pages of European history, however, the impact of Holocaust, say, in Poland or Russia, for all its horrible crimes, resonates much less than in the United States. Why?? Did anyone ask how many Soviet (Russian) soldiers taken POWs in the first months of 1941 perish in German captivity?? Well, around 3 to 4 million. For some housewife from L.A. or Indianapolis those numbers are BEYOND comprehension, but then again, Leningrad lost within 900 days of its siege TWICE as many people as United States lost throughout its history combined up to this moment. Do housewives from L.A. or Indianapolis have any clue about that?? Sure…..(sarcasm).

About half of the problem with these folks charging that others don’t “like” America is the incredible self-centeredness of the assumption that one should. Go ask the vast majority of Americans to name another country they like or even love and then ask them if because of that they would advocate the U.S. supporting that country taking other people’s land by force so that the U.S. becomes the object of hatred and even terrorism because of that support. And of course the overwhelming answer would be “of course not.” But somehow when it comes to Israel the assumption is that of course we *should* like/love Israel that much.

The other half is that for those who follow the region closely it’s awful hard to “like” a country that, if not before also, is trying to get us into a war for its sake and doing so on numerous blatantly false grounds.

Not only does U.S. intelligence still adjudge that Iran has no on-going nuke weapon program, but even more fundamentally consider Israel’s basic claim that Iran must be attacked because Iranian nukes could not be contained by the threat of retaliation. I

In other words, Israel’s “existential” fear of unprovoked and indeed uncaused annihilation.

But, if Israel really just feared this sort of thing how come Israel hasn’t positively *jumped* at the idea of a stringently verified Nuke Free Mideast Accord? Especially as Iran and many other ME countries have said they would sign same? After all, it offers nothing less than *complete* protection to Israel from any such nuclear threat as it says it fears, and not just from Iran alone.

The *only* reason why Israel dismisses such an Accord is then clear: It isn’t living in horror of the idea of potential nuclear annihilators in its region; it just wants to be the *only* potential nuclear annihilator in the region.

And yet it pretends otherwise, and its agents here propagandize for war on Iran its false grounds too.

And this doesn’t even mention that Israel knows it is in violation of U.S. law banning U.S. aid to countries with nuclear programs that have not signed the NP Treaty. Instead it just smugly refuses to say it has such weapons and gets its supporters and our cowardly politicians and officials to go along with the sham treachery against our own laws.

And yet we are supposed to not just “like” but indeed “love” Israel. So much so that we expend our blood, treasure and interests simply so that it can keep stealing ever more Palestinian land. Even though that too is against our strong advice and condemnation.

So what’s not to like? A country that, since at least the Lavon Affair, has moved heaven and earth to make us enemies with billions of muslims?

Ron Turkey is in the middle east in all but name. It was the front line in the cold war and fought beside us with distinction in Korea.It’s also a NATO member, making it formally an ally.

Scott doesn’t appear to be saying that we shouldn’t allow Israel to do as it wishes. He’s saying that the US should not be expected to endorse Israel’s actions or to ride to its rescue if it takes on a fight it can’t finish.

I don’t see how that’s unreasonable, or for that matter on what we base the notion that Israel is an ally.

Wrong is wrong no matter who does it. If the United States does wrong I condemn that action, when the Japanese tortured our soldiers, I condemned that, when we torture, I condemn that, when bush okayed torture I condemned that, I condemn Obam when he permits torture, when Israel tortures I condemn that, when Assad’s forces torture I condemn that. Those who only denounce some evil when those they dont like do it, but condone it when those they regard as friends do it, then I say they have no morals.

20%?
The Israeli army’s chief of staff states that in the past three years, “US taxpayers have contributed more to the Israeli defense budget than Israeli taxpayers,” according to a report in the Jerusalem Post, a prominent Israeli newspaper.

There are an increasing number of former CIA employees with years of experience in the Middle East who don’t agree on everything but who are all in agreement that Israel is not an asset to the US but a strategic liability.

Add to that the number of former foreign service officials who spent a considerable amount of time in the region who agree with them. In fact, it is hard to find a single ex-CIA employee or former State Dept. official who is not connected to one or more of the pro-Israel “think tanks” that disagrees with them.

As for Ron Capelli, who like many other blind supporters of Israel, keeps reminding us that the Israelis live in a “bad” or “dangerous” neighborhood, I would remind him and them that those neighbors were there first–please don’t trot out the 2 millennia BS–and if they don’t like it, they should move

If the average American were as critical of everything as the average Israeli is, we’d be a lot better off. A dozen political parties instead of one siamese twin political machine would be progress, too.